Adventist News

"Seventh Day Adventist Church yesterday lost its legal bid to have students subscribing to their doctrine skip Saturday classes. High court judge Isaac Lenaola dismissed a petition lodged against Alliance High School by the church saying such a directive could cause total chaos in School's programmes. Justice Lenaola said if school programmes are to be changed to accommodate Adventist students, the school will also be forced to accommodate the religious needs of other students. "At the end, and if that became a policy or order of this Court, I am not sure if the public schools would have the exact formulae for doing so without causing total chaos in its Programmes" said Lenaola. Lenaola said the Alliance High School has made reasonable attempts to make education accessible to a large student population notwithstanding their differing religious beliefs.The SDA had filed a case to safeguard the fundamental rights of all students subscribing the SDA doctrine."

"The core content of the daily prayer that U.S. Senate Chaplain – and Oakwood University alumnus – Barry Black offers for the 100 senators comes from, he says, “God texting me.”Black explained the source of his inspiration for the prayers, which received national attention during the 16-day government shut-down, when the retired two-star Navy admiral spoke in Huntsville at the Pastoral Evangelism & Leadership Council held at Oakwood University the second week of December. The PELC attracts more than 1,000 Seventh-day Adventist clergy and church workers from around the U.S. and the world for the annual four-day seminar."

"Hundreds of toys adorned Stanborough Park Seventh-day Adventist Church in Garston on Saturday morning for the church’s annual toy service.

Each year for more than half a century generous church members have donated toys for needy local children who would otherwise go without presents at Christmas.

Organised by Pat Walton, the daughter of the event’s founder Alf Kelly, the toys are collected and distributed to needy families by social workers who know where the toys will find good homes.

According to Pat: "The social workers from various institutions who are working in the children’s sector are delighted with the toys that they take away from Stanborough Park Church to give to the families they are working with."

For many of the recipients it’s a lifeline as otherwise their children would be in danger of missing out on Christmas."

"LAKE CITY- The Columbia City Seventh Day Adventist Church in Lake City didn't sugar coat their interpretation of the Christmas story.

Parents wish they had a little warning before seeing what they call a graphic display.

According to the Bible, the Edict of Herod ordered the killing of all infant boys age 2 and under, in an attempt to weed out baby Jesus.

The Columbia City Church portrayed the slaughter-- replacing babies with dolls-- but parents say it still traumatized their kids.

Lake City Resident Jenny Williams describes her experience, "as we pulled up further, they were depicting decapitating babies and that happened to be on the side of the vehicle that my 2 year old was on and it was very traumatic for her she started crying and screaming because of the baby and it took me hours to calm her down."

Head Pastor at Columbia City Seventh Day Adventist Church, George Worrell says he hasn't received any complaints about his Nativity scene."

"The East Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has appointed Fabia Phillips-Lawrence to the post of assistant communication director, effective December 9, 2013, the church has announced.

Phillips-Lawrence follows in the footsteps of former assistant communication director, Adiese Jonas, who left a mainstream media house, Power-106 FM, to work for the church and who is now marketing manager at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) Media Group.

Phillips-Lawrence previously worked as a broadcast journalist with CVM-TV and HOT-102 FM and has more than 10 years of experience in broadcast media and communication. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mass Communication and an Associates of Arts Degree in English (Writing Emphasis) from NCU.

"Her experience in media, public relations and communication has been enhanced with work done with several private sector groups as communications specialist," the announcement said.

Phillips-Lawrence is a former member of the New Haven SDA Church where she served as youth ministries leader and communication team member. She is married to Dwayne Lawrence."

"As education reform brings sweeping changes at the state and national level, private school systems, such as the Seventh-day Adventists, have re-evaluated standards and curriculum to be sure expectations are kept current.

At Bowman Hills School, a local Seventh-day Adventist school, Principal Matt Korp said the Adventists have not changed too much of what is being taught.

Korp said the Adventist school system is the second-largest private school system in the world. The Catholic school system is the largest.

The local school is a part of the Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The conference is a part of the Southern Union, which is a part of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. The global office for the denomination oversees the divisions.

“We have some benefits from that — curriculum, standards-based teaching, staff training, in-service training. Because we are such a large group we do track a lot of the latest research,” Korp said.

The North American Division of Seven-day Adventist wrote the standards used at Bowman Hills.

“I would say in some ways they are similar to the public school system’s standards. Since we are a denominational group we do have some religious standards, Bible (and similar studies) that are incorporated in with our teaching,” Korp said. “The standards are just research-based guidelines that we incorporate into our teaching to ensure that the students are progressing.”

The worldwide Adventist School System has not adopted the Common Core standards."

"The Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church on Saturday successfully held its 125th anniversary thanksgiving service in Accra.

Speaking on the theme “Proclaiming and Living the Christian Life,” Pastor Delbert Baker said it was evident for worshipers to be in deep gratitude to the Lord for the victory God had given them and the Church.

Pastor Baker said God multiplied little beginnings, and that Christians should not lose hope but rather continue to have faith in God no matter the situation because if; “God has done it for the church in these past 125 years, then nothing is too hard for Him concerning your lives,” he added.

He tasked Christians to serve God just as Joseph did, and God would do something in their lives as He did in Joseph’s.

Pastor Dr Samuel Adama Larmie, President of the Ghana Union Conference of the SDA said, for the past 125 years, the good Lord had sown, watered and spread His truth for the Church, using human talented instruments.

“From a single pamphlet and a single soul, Francis Dolphijin, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Ghana now has over 700,000 worshippers,” he said."

"The Hixson Seventh Day Adventist Church is a small congregation with a big heart. For nearly three months the congregation of fewer than 50 has been collecting and organizing donations as part of it's annual Christmas program benefiting Chattanooga's homeless."

"Things such as blankets, sleeping bags, scarves, and gloves to help those stuck on the streets stay a little warmer. Snack foods as well as personal items like soap and shampoo have been dropped off, too. The items are placed in around 200 backpacks, making for special gift packages to be handed out to those in need at a Christmas dinner later this month. Because having a backpack can mean everything to a person without a home, Knoch says filling one with simple items can mean everything."

"The Bags of Love are donated to the foster care program, which then gives them to children entering care. Sometimes children only have the clothes on their backs when they are removed from their homes. Regardless of why a child is placed in foster care though, their safety and comfort is the primary concern. Having something as simple as a bag of random items all to themselves can be a blessing."

""Getting a nice bag with a blanket, winter hat and toothbrush may seem silly, but the kids really appreciate that someone made the effort to help them out during a very difficult time in their lives," said Samantha Vanstrom, program manager for the Jamestown office. "Funds are limited, so donations like these bags are a wonderful way to get the community involved in helping the kids we serve.""

"Seventh-day Adventist human rights advocates are urging church members worldwide to send encouragement in the form of Christmas cards to three members in prison on what church officials say are false charges.More than a year and a half has passed since Seventh-day Adventist pastor Antonio Monteiro and church elder Bruno Amah were imprisoned in the West African country of Togo in a criminal case without evidence or a trial."

"In March 2012, a Togolese man implicated Monteiro and Amah as conspirators in an alleged blood trafficking network. A police search of the pastor’s home and local church headquarters produced no evidence, but Monteiro and Amah have not been released."